General NBA insight – Page 151 – NBA Blog

Bucks must improve shooting

Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

The Bucks’ season field goal percentage number is 44%, which ranks 26th among the 30 National Basketball Association teams. Milwaukee is shooting better than just four teams – Charlotte, Indiana, Chicago and New Jersey.

It’s a major source of concern for coach Scott Skiles, who believes the Bucks will improve their marksmanship.

“That’s the difference between good college shooters and pro shooters,” Skiles said. “When you’re open in your range and your feet are set, that thing has to go in at a high percentage. I would tell you that most of the really good pro shooters, when their feet are set and I’m talking about (being) wide open, 75% of the time that thing should be right in the bottom of the goal.

“At other times, you’ve got to take off-balance shots and you’re driving, you don’t get fouled. So we need all our guys.”

Al Thornton diet change

Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times reports:

The 6-foot-8 Thornton hired a personal chef in the off-season and abstained from greasy foods as he dropped from 235 pounds to 230, but felt his quickness came only in spurts. Thornton couldn’t pinpoint when he fully adapted to his diet, but said his energy level recently has been high.

“It took awhile,” said Thornton, who ate chicken breast, pasta and tomatoes after Thursday’s practice. “Once you do it you can tell there’s a major difference to how you feel and how your body feels. It’s an adjustment. But if you want to do well in this game, sometimes you have to make sacrifices.”

Thornton doesn’t want that sacrifice to include a bench role, but Coach Mike Dunleavy strongly hinted that rookie forward Blake Griffin will take Thornton’s place whenever Griffin fully recovers from the stress fracture in his left knee.

Is Gerald Wallace an All-Star?

Charlotte Bobcats small forward Gerald Wallace is averaging 16.1 points, a league-leading 12.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.65 steals per game. He’s not shooting especially well (42.9% and just 29.4% three-pointers) but is still having a terrific season.

Is he worthy of making the East All-Star team?

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports (via blog):

I figure there are three forwards — Cleveland’s LeBron James, Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Toronto’s Bosh — who are locks to be chosen. As I said above, Bosh could potentially count as the backup center (behind Orlando’s Dwight Howard) since he’s certainly the next-best big man. And Bosh is so good Toronto’s record won’t kill his candidacy.

That would leave Wallace in a mix with the following: Boston’s Paul Pierce, Atlanta’s Josh Smith, Indiana’s Danny Granger and Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.

I’m thinking Wallace won’t make it. But that he’s even potentially in the discussion is a nice positive for the Bobcats.

Pacers still finding their rotation

With 6-12 record, the Indiana Pacers aren’t off to the best of starts. Star Danny Granger is having a very good season, though he needs to raise his 40.1% field goal percentage. But he simply doesn’t have much help. And head coach Jim O’Brien is still searching for the best player combinations to help turn things around.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:

Jim O’Brien has used many starting combinations. Dahntay Jones replaced Brandon Rush at shooting guard and O’Brien has used both Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster at center.

O’Brien may also want to take a look at point guard. T.J. Ford didn’t do anything to earn the confidence of teammates during the trip.

Ford had a total of 10 assists and 11 turnovers in four games. O’Brien went with Earl Watson in Ford’s place for most of the second half against Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers last week.

The Pacers must have stability at point guard if they expect to win.

O’Brien hopes to eventually settle on a nine-man rotation.

Considering the limited roster, Mike Dunleavy being hurt until just five games ago, Troy Murphy missing some games, etc., I’d say the Pacers are doing about as well as expected.

Bulls offense is struggling

The Chicago Bulls, whose super-scoring guard Ben Gordon is now with the Detroit Pistons, are struggling to put points on the board.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reports:

The Bulls’ offense is so bad that the notoriously long-winded Hubie Brown, who was the color analyst forFriday’s game in Cleveland, ran out of talking points.

The Bulls’ offense is so bad that it rivals the above lame attempts at one-liners. Rim shot, please, indeed. Anything better than the boring, predictable high screen-and-roll and slow ball reversal that, lately, has resulted in air balls.

Let’s get the ugly numbers out of the way first:

The Bulls score 90.4 points per game, 28th in the league. They shoot 43.2 percent, 27th in the league. They rank 24th in 3-point shooting at 31.1 percent and only Utah and Memphis take fewer 3-pointers than the Bulls’ 11.8 per game.

The Bulls have surpassed 100 points and shot 50 percent just once in 18 games.

On the bright side, the Bulls (unofficially) lead the league in heavily contested long 2-pointers jacked from just inside the 3-point line.

Chicago has lost seven of their last eight games, and many of the losses haven’t even been close. A shakeup could take place soon if this continues.

Have an opinion? Share it on the InsideHoops Chicago Bulls forum.

Spurs need to show improvement

With a 9-8 record, the San Antonio Spurs sit in the middle of the Western conference pack. If the regular season ended today, they’d qualify for the playoffs, but just barely — via a tie-breaker with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Will the Spurs soon raise the level of their game?

Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express News reports:

After back-to-back homecourt losses to the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, the Spurs head to the scene of one of their worst losses of the season with a sense their season has reached an early turning point.

The Jazz’s motivation is much simpler. They need a victory over any team to erase the embarrassment of Saturday night’s loss to Minnesota. The Timberwolves had won only two games before coming from 14 points down to beat a Jazz team that coach Jerry Sloan says didn’t defend in the second half.

The Spurs, 9-8 after back-to-back losses, approach tonight’s game with a fair amount of optimism. But they also understand that this revamped roster — one which many hoped would position them for a title run — needs to begin showing results, and soon.

“This stretch of games right here is really good for us,” Spurs captain and leading scorer Tim Duncan said. “We need to turn a corner and learn things about ourselves and become a better team.”

Right now, it’s hard to take the Spurs seriously as a championship contender. Perhaps that’ll change in the near future.

Nate Robinson in the doghouse

New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson is good at providing sparks and bursts of scoring, but also tends to show questionable decision-making. And although he recently unleashed a wild scoring display late in a game against the Orlando Magic, the tiny leaper is on coach Mike D’Antoni’s bad side.

Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reports:

Donnie Walsh didn’t give Nate Robinson a $2 million raise to have him turn into a non-playing reserve, but the Knicks’ president has no problem with Robinson being demoted six weeks into the NBA season.

“Mike is in charge of that,” Walsh said Saturday, referring to coach Mike D’Antoni. “I’m supportive of whatever he does. I think it’s been difficult with this team to come up with a rotation. I think he’s given everybody time, so at some point he’s got to come up with a rotation to win with. If a guy’s not in it, he’s not in it.”

With Robinson losing his minutes to rookie Toney Douglas, largely because of his showboating and other on-court antics, the Knicks have split their last two games. Since that’s what passes for success these days at the Garden, D’Antoni is not about to change his rotation for today’s home game against the Nets.

This season, Robinson is averaging 10.9 points and 3.2 assists in 22.0 minutes per game. He’s shooting a decent 44.3 percent.

The Knicks face the Nets Sunday in New York.

Knicks City Dancers comic book

The Knicks City Dancers are unveiling the first-ever NBA dance team comic book at two autograph signing sessions held at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Dec. 6. Members of the team will be on hand during “Knicks Kids Day” in the Expo Center before the Knicks take on the Nets and again in the Double Teamed Store during halftime. During the second session in the Double Teamed Store, the dancers will provide an autographed copy of their comic book to all fans with the purchase of any item from the arena stores, while supplies last.

The Knicks City Dancers are “Keeping the Rhythm of New York” in their 19th season as one of the premiere dance teams in the NBA. The squad embodies the talent, energy and diversity of New York City and have branded their “Super Hero” costume (featured on the cover of the comic book) to represent the empowered and classy “super women” of New York. Each dancer is profiled in the comic book to give their fans an up-close look at their favorite dancer, while providing them with an exclusive collectable item. Throughout the season, the dancers appear at all home games and serve as team representatives at numerous community events.

Earl Boykins helping the Wizards

Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports:

When the Washington Wizards signed Earl Boykins three weeks ago, they were depleted at the point guard position and simply needed to fill a hole. But after the team got off to a ragged start this season, Boykins is actually helping to make the team whole.

The Wizards are 5-4 since Boykins joined the team on a non-guaranteed contract on Nov. 11. And, as they prepare to face the Toronto Raptors on Friday at Verizon Center, the Wizards (7-10) have won four of their past five games and appear to be turning a corner with the 5-foot-5 Boykins running the show in the fourth quarter in three of those victories. His most triumphant performance came during their 104-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, when Boykins scored 11 points in the final 10 minutes, including the game-winning free throws with one second remaining.

Share your opinion on the Washington Wizards forum.

Raptors defensive struggles

The Toronto Raptors entered the season with lofty expectations but with a 7-11 record they aren’t off to the start they hoped for.

Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun reports:

Raptors head coach Jay Triano has found himself increasingly on the defensive about his team’s lack of defence.

The 7-11 Raptors, losers of their past three games, have given up the second most points in the NBA (109.27) and Triano’s assertions that the club’s defence eventually will improve is starting to fall, if just a notch, on deaf ears.

But Triano remained steadfast yesterday in the belief that, eventually, his club will come together on defence, adding that he sees positive signs, such as when they switched on defence and went to a zone coverage in a 113-94 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. Triano said, for instance, that the high-flying Suns, who lead the NBA in scoring (averaging 112 points), were 13-for-31 on possessions when the Raptors switched.

It’s too early to worry, but keep an eye on the field goal percentage and point totals of Raptors opponents over the next 4-6 games.